My life has changed in the most amazing ways since my introduction to shamanism. I was raised in a traditional Christian home where the church and it’s rules were priorities, but practicing those rules did not seem a primary focus for most believers. One consistent thing for me was an undeniable love for God that I felt deep within my being. My sense of God was not so much based on a fear of punishment — although that was definitely part of my training — but more from a cellular knowingness of a force outside myself that was an expression of love.

At the age of twelve, I asked the Holy Spirit to enter my life. I felt a visceral, profound, and overwhelming feeling of entrance into myself, and I was suddenly aware of a world greater than what I had known. Today, I have that feeling regularly when I merge with my spiritual allies. During my teenage years, I was captivated by and curious about telepathy, psychics, and divination. I explored these in conversations with others or by occasionally going to a tarot reader. These explorations seemed on the extreme edge of traditional thought and beyond what was considered the norm. My thoughts and actions even felt a bit blasphemous, which was scary and exciting at the same time. I always felt there was more out there than what the church offered to help me understand the mysteries of life.

In my thirties, I was introduced to shamanism and the spirit world of shamanic cultures. I have written about this on several occasions. See past issues of the Sedona Journal if you are interested in more detailed information about an apparition that appeared to me and put me on the trajectory that reshaped my life. My story is also featured in the book Shamanism in the New Millennium (Cate Montana, 2018), an anthology featuring sixteen different shamans and their calls to shamanism. This event led to several other experiences and the eventual creation of LightSong.